Seat assemblies having a side shield are well known in the art. Side shields are used to provide an aesthetically appealing appearance to the user and to also provide a barrier from the inside and underneath components of the seat assembly. The side shield may also hold the operator controls for the seat assembly, such as seat movement, slide, tilt, memory, recline . . . etc. However, current seat assembly configurations do not provide for a close mating condition between the side shield and the seat cushion. The prior art, such as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, show a large gap between the leading edge of the side shield and the seat cushion. This gap is not only not aesthetically pleasing, it also may result in objects dropped by the user becoming lost by falling through the gap and the side shield and creates an inconsistent gap. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to provide a seat assembly having a side shield having an improved mating condition between the leading edge of the side shield and the seat cushion.